I decided to tell this story in short-stories. All of them will be connected. Some closer than others. I write most of these on the bus/commute to work, so it's hard to write in the traditional chapter format.

University was a rush.

Caroline had fallen in love with New York City. The endless crowds of people, the food - actual food, not her liquid diet - the style, the nightlife... even the crowded subway. She blended in, she stood out and something inside her had finally clicked into place.

She wondered if this what adulthood was supposed to feel like. What it might have been like earlier if she hadn't helped her friends, stopped a small apocalypse. But only sometimes. She was acutely aware that her continued confidence came from being supernatural.

It taken time. Long conversations over the phone with her mom; most kids struggled to learn to prioritize, she tried to figure out how to eat people. Organic or processed? How did one eat organically and humanely? Should she?

Sometimes the absurdity of it made her laugh. So she tackled it one question at a time. And the only judge that mattered, the only opinion she lived with was her own. No more ghosts of lifetimes she could only guess at.

For now.

Once she'd accepted that it was time to walk away, once she'd stopped roasting herself over coals of her own making - she'd had a realization. This lifetime was hers. She chose her mom and she chose herself. Maybe in the next lifetime she'd choose other people.

But that had been freeing for her.

Mystic Falls had taken so many choices from her. Some had been horrible, some bad and she knew mixed in there were great ones. But she'd never make them. So now her choices mattered.

Some nights she still woke up in a cold sweat. Eternity was still too big of a word. Forever made her heart hurt. So for now she'd work on herself, she'd spend her time with her mom and later she'd deal with the rest of it.

So for three years she'd pushed Mystic Falls out of her equation. She'd decided to pick a double major - just to see if she could. She was on track to graduate with honors.

Curling her fingers around her coffee mug, she considered the papers and notes spread out along the booth in front of her. Internships, jobs and graduate school all loomed before her and she couldn't scrounge up a single hint of interest.

Her mom was thrilled she was graduating. Caroline was torn. She knew she wasn't returning to her Mom's house. Not to stay. Maybe not at all.

So what did a baby vampire do?

She'd explored life as a human. Joined a sorority, hated it and left. She joined clubs, ran organizations and joined the student body.

She gave herself permission to make mistakes. She ate people. She killed two. Those had haunted her. She learned to steal blood bags. She discovered being hungry was dangerous surrounded by this many people. She explored her ability to use compulsion and then left it alone. She tested her limits.

She partied. She dated. She dreamed of sunshine heat and burning kisses. And now it was time to move on.

But to what?

"Well, I must say I didn't believe the rumors. Who would have thought that Caroline Forbes would have grown a spine and crawled out of that pathetic town after all?"

Caroline looked up, blinked and frowned. "Rebekah."

She refused to admit that the sight of the only female Mikaelson made her stomach jump. It wasn't fear. It wasn't exactly anticipation either.

"Well, are you going to ask me to sit or not?"

Caroline arched both brows but shrugged. "Sure. Sit. Don't touch my papers."

Rebekah tossed her bag into the booth and slid in. "Please, like I'm interested in your... actually, I don't care what it is. Why are you here?"

Caroline took another sip of her coffee. "Today? I had lunch. Now I'm drinking coffee in a coffee shop. You?"

Rebekah stared at her and waved down a waiter. "New Orleans is boring."

Caroline wanted to ask. Tyler was in New Orleans. What had happened with the baby? The gleam in Rebekah's eyes had her biting her tongue. Instead, "Fashion Week was ages ago."

Rebekah waved off the help after her order and looked amused. "There are other pursuits worth having. Don't tell me - years here and you haven't hit up the subculture of the city."

Caroline shook her head. "Oh, I've seen it. I just didn't particularly care for it."

Dark, blood filled clubs that tempted and took more than they gave. Maybe that was different for an Original - Caroline didn't think they gave anything to anyone - but Caroline was okay with admitting she wasn't ready for that. The games played there were sophisticated and dangerous. More importantly, she didn't need that kind of interaction. Besides, they lacked a... edge after her previous dealings.

"Scared?"

Caroline laughed. "After surviving your family and Silas? Hardly. But not one of my interests. I'm not sure I'd have thought it was yours?"

Rebekah pointed at her. "Don't let what you saw in Mystic Falks confuse you, Caroline. I can kill you."

Caroline shrugged. "It just seemed to lack... well, originality. I'd have thought they'd bore you."

Rebekah narrowed her eyes and shrugged. "They have their place. Everything does."

Caroline watched her for several moments. "Why are you here, Rebekah? Bothering me was more fun for you when other people cared. As you can see, no one is here to witness."

"Oh, don't think this is a friendly check in. I'm fond of this city, I don't want to give my brother a reason to raze it should something happen to you."

"So what, you're stopping in to make sure I can take care of myself? A little late for that." She refused to acknowledge or recognize the mention of Klaus.

Rebekah tossed her hair and stared at her. "You're a baby vampire in a city of vampires. I'm sure you've met some. As I said, I like New York. Don't mess it up."

"The world doesn't revolve around you." Caroline said with some exasperation.

"Of course it does. I just have to share it with my brothers, which is just ridiculous, but whatever. Don't get staked."

Caroline shook her head. That was odd. Deciding to file that one under crazy, she went back to staring at the options spread across the table.

Maybe she'd travel. Take her mom somewhere warm. Maybe.

"Yes. She's fine. Same hair, same face, same attention to detail." Rebekah tapped her foot impatiently. "Based on what I saw? She's still deciding. How should I know? Seriously Nik, I'm not stalking the cheerleader for you. Do it yourself."

Rebekah ended the call and shook her head, looking at the little cafe for a moment longer. That hadn't gone as she'd expected.

Caroline Forbes.

God, how she'd disliked her. Not as much as the doppelgänger, but she'd felt no remorse about any of their interactions either. Then Nik went and fell in love.

In love. Her big brother who staked her, put her in a box and then set her free with a smile and a blade. The master puppeteer, he left kingdoms burning in his wake. Who fought so hard against and with them. Entire countries had been their chessboards, their battlefields.

Family. The reason and bane of her existence. The harbor and the burning village.

And one blond, baby vampire who didn't have the decency to just get herself killed had felled him. Brought Nik to his knees, enraged and threatened him and shown a capacity for loyalty that even Elijah had noticed. And instead of compelling her, using her up and destroying her for the audacity for making him care, Nik waited. He didn't pine. He wasn't celibate (that whole she-wolf nonsense should have been a lesson in keeping it in his pants, but no, stupid male idiot) and he still played his vicious games.

Oh, Marcel. A smile tugged her lips. That one was learning the cost of betrayal (perceived or real; wrong choice, lover). In a year or so, they'd move on.

Find new toys.

And he'd still be waiting.

So, fine. She did Nik a favor. He'd spared Marcel, at her request. She wasn't quite finished with him. She might as well return the favor.

So she had.

But Caroline hadn't rejected her. Hadn't demanded to know why she was there, hadn't looked at her with disgust and hate. She'd been cautious, wary... a little welcoming. And wasn't that a surprise?

So maybe she'd stick around a few more days. See what else she might find changed. Not that Nik had to know. He killed Haley after all, and she distinctly remembered demanding the right to do that.

Bitch had stolen her clothes. Then stretched them out with her fat ass. Seriously, taking her heart had been too damn fast.

Decided, she headed off to find a place to stay for a few nights. Maybe a week. Maybe two.

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